PEACE is not resignation, but RESILIENCY.  Psychological resilience is defined as an individual’s ability to properly adapt to stress and adversity. A scattered mind is, like the bible says, a wave tossed by the wind of the sea (James 1:6).

Where does life find you today? You may be in the midst of a hurricane or a financial storm—perhaps you are facing other issues. Remember, peace is not the absence of turmoil. Peace is the rudder of the soul that provides solitude in the midst of turmoil. God promises to keep in perfect peace all who trust in Him, all whose thoughts are fixed on Him (Isaiah 26:3 NLT)!

I’d like to share a story with you about a man from the Congo who was only one step away from a very tragic decision in his life. However, in just a matter of moments his world was changed instantly.

How? He heard words. Simple words of Good News opened the door to a new world. Do you need doors opened in your life? Today is your day!

In one of our meetings in the Congo, a young father was distraught and very upset about how life had treated him. I don’t know what situation you are facing—maybe you find yourself like this young father.

He had just purchased poison at a local pharmacy and was on his way home to take his and his family’s lives that night. As he walked, he heard words in the distance over loud speakers and decided to see what was happening. As he listened, he heard a new idea. The words began to penetrate his heart, and he had an overwhelming sense of God’s love and presence.

This young father later made his way to the platform to tell the audience what had happened. He stood weeping before 100,000 people, telling them the evil he had planned and how God had freed him and forgiven him. Suddenly, the crowd began to part as a woman with several children made her way to the platform. She was crying and shouting, “Honey, honey! We are here too!”

The couple embraced on the platform, forgave each other and committed their lives to the LORD. In an instant the question of who God is was answered—God is love! God is forgiveness, peace and restoration!

Do you need God’s presence? We have seen Him touch the masses around the world. Jesus is here for you right now. Wherever you are, just stop and turn your thoughts to God. He loves you. He believes in you. And today, He offers you forgiveness!

This question can be one of the most informative or one of the most destructive questions we can ask. When it comes to discovery, this question has opened the door to fabulous inventions and modern technologies; however, when it comes to life and death the question “WHY” causes many a soul to sink to levels of depression never before experienced. Some aspects of the question “WHY” which pertain to death, dying and destruction will never be resolved until one day when we stand before the creator of humanity.

How do we come to grasp with these issues of “Why?”?  First, understand that God is not the creator of evil, but it issues forth from the heart of humanity that is separated from God by sin. Second, recognize that from the very beginning of time there has been a force of evil (Satan) determined to destroy the very creation that God holds as the apple of his eye. Third, realize that it was only the deepest love that created humans different from all creation giving us the faculties of reason, will, humor, imagination, words and decision-making capabilities—and with these abilities come great responsibilities for life, family, country and even our earth.

So today let’s turn our Whys in life into a Why Not?—turning the negativity of depression into the positivity of expression! If you’re down and don’t understand, choose to release this situation to the Lord and find the good that remains in the life or lives around you!

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit (Prov 18:21 NIV).

Just who is Yahweh, our salvation? Listen to these titles for Yahweh, or Jehovah:

The first name is Jehovah Jireh, translated “the Lord will provide.” So even in man’s desperation and separation because of Satan’s deception, we see that God reveals Himself as the Lord who will provide. In other words, He wants us to remember that He is our source and that He provides a covenant sacrifice that will pay the atonement for our sins. He paints a picture of it for us. We have a hope, a future, and an expectation that God will do something for us.

Next we discover that He is Jehovah Nisi. This name means “the Lord our banner.” Remember this is in the context of those eight hundred pages where we are living under the power of Satan’s deception. And we do not yet have an encounter with the living Jesus, who brings us to the reality of this new life. But during this time when we are without God, He reveals Himself as our salvation, as our banner. He is our victory. Even when sin separated us, God had a plan, and this plan connects us to the victory He desires for our lives.

We also see Him as Jehovah Shalom. Jehovah Shalom means “the Lord is our peace.” This word shalom literally has the essence of nothing broken, everything fixed, everything being repaired. Shalom is total restoration and total peace for all that we need. So again, in those eight hundred pages of God reaching out to us, He reveals Himself as Jehovah Shalom, our peace. This is God extending Himself to humanity saying “I love you.”

Then we see Jehovah Shamah, or “the Lord who is present.” When sin entered in and mankind was banished from the garden (because of Adam and Eve’s original sin), we were also banished from the presence of God. Why? Because sin cannot stand in the presence of a holy God. Here again God reaches out to us and reveals Himself as the God who is among His people, the Lord who is there. As you read these words I want you to connect with the reality of how God has reached out to you. Even though sin created a wall of separation, God still had you on His heart. 

Look at these other titles; it’s fascinating for us to discover this God who so loves us: Jehovah Tsidkenu, “the Lord our righteousness”; Jehovah Rohi, which means “the Lord our shepherd.” In Psalm 23 we discover that He leads us beside the still waters; He causes us to lie down in green pastures because He is our shepherd and He is with us. We know that He is Jehovah Rapha, or God our healer, the one who repairs that which is broken.

It’s exciting to think that when we were still separated from God because of sin, He still had you and me on His mind!

There was a woman who was well known in a particular African city because she lived in a cardboard house underneath a bridge. Everybody knew she was there. She had tuberculosis; she was dirty. Nobody cared about her. She had no family, no one to love her, no one to trust her, no one to believe in her. So she went about her life living under that bridge. But then a big meeting came to town where they were sharing principles similar to what I’m sharing with you here.

A group of ladies from the church decided to be bold and go under the bridge to the woman in the cardboard house. When they came to her house and invited her to the meeting, she said, “Why do you want me? You don’t care about me. Nobody wants me.” They replied, “You’ve got to come with us. There is a man who is talking about Jesus and God, and lots of people are being healed. You are ill and he can help you!”

She finally consented and went to the meeting, and as she was standing there on the outside of the crowd listening, she heard words of love and life. Suddenly she understood that God loved her, and that Jesus had died for her so that she would never be alone.

She opened her mouth and prayed to this living God, and as she did, Jesus visited her. She felt an energy come into her body, and she could breathe deeply once again! The ladies from church saw that she was smiling and breathing normally, so they rushed her up to the platform to share a testimony of what had happened in her life. The women were so excited! Right there in their midst they were seeing a miracle!

They brought the woman up onto the platform and asked the preacher to have her testify. When they handed her the microphone, she walked out in front of the people and said, “You know me. I’m the lady that lives under the bridge in the cardboard house. You know who I am. You know that I’m all alone under that bridge, but something happened to me. As I was standing on that field praying and listening, all of a sudden Jesus came to me, and for the first time in my life I know that I will never be alone again, because Jesus has come to live in me.”

The women pressed her to testify about her healing from tuberculosis, but the greatest miracle to the lady from the cardboard house was the reality that she would never be alone again! The God of the universe had taken up residence within her heart!

The devil is not able to come into your room in the middle of the night and destroy you or your family. He is limited because he is a loser. So why do we read on the internet and on the front pages of newspapers about foolish, destructive behavior from successful businessmen, politicians, and ministers? The devil didn’t make them do it; they entertained and yielded to devilish thoughts.

Solomon penned that above all we should guard our hearts, for out of them flow the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23). Life comes from the inside. Nothing changes on the outside until we change on the inside!

People spend their lives offended at what other people did to them, instead of concentrating on the real wealth inside them that could change the world.  Paul told us, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is” (Romans 12:2 NLT 1996).

Why does God tell you to do this? Because eventually, whatever goes into your inside will affect your outside. Physically, you may have the desire to look like someone on the front page of a glamour magazine, but you also might have the desire to eat 10 hamburgers and a pound of french fries a day! What you put inside of you will eventually show up on the outside and override any higher goal you might have had.

“We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father.” Colossians 1:11-12 NLT

Strength from God for the journey will see you through life’s most difficult challenges. Having lived in Russia for approximately 10 years I learned how God can provide even our simplest request in the most difficult economic situations. I remember one winter in the early 90’s I wanted a pair of gloves to match my coat. No one was selling anything but Soviet-style grey and black gloves, and there weren’t a lot of those available. My coat was multi-colored and I wanted a pair of matching red gloves. To my missionary friend it seemed like a fantasy to desire a pair of bright red gloves in the, at that time, dull, dirty city of Moscow, but one morning as we emerged from the Moscow Metro (subway), there on the corner stood a grandmother selling an assortment of brightly colored gloves! My friend gasped and said “Look! Leslie, there are your gloves!” This was a tremendous testimony to this young missionary who did not have much income and who had no experience living by faith.

 “Have faith in God,” Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours… Mark 11:23, 24 NIV

Remember today that God provides strength for the journey! Have faith! He is with you even in the small things!

For many, salvation through Christ means an escape from eternal judgment. Often as I stand on the open fields of world evangelism, whether I am preaching or standing among the crowd, I find myself declaring the salvation prayer as if it were the first time I said it. Why? Because I understand the value of this word – SALVATION!

I am not simply uttering a religious prayer, but I am making a proclamation of my deliverance from fear, my redemption from sin, my discovery of healing, and the reality of God’s peace! This most simplistic Salvation prayer opens my heart and my mind once again to the reality of God’s promises for me—HIS CHILD!

I vividly recall a time when I was speaking to our partners via the internet, and I sensed such a strong presence of the Lord as together we made this simple salvation confession. Not an elaborate religious prayer—but a confession of the heart and a trust in the reality of Jesus and what He promised for me and for you.

I cannot explain how such a simple prayer can transform people, churches, and even nations. YET—I can declare to you that I have seen God respond to a simple heart desiring to know Him as Savior, healer, protector, deliverer, and comforter time and time again!

Let’s not make prayer difficult! Keep it SIMPLE! That’s how He designed it! Religion is the extra ingredient of unbelief added to the simplicity of Christ’s cross. Faith is the simple confession of a heart trusting in what He has done for us!

Without God’s Spirit in us, our conscience would be hardened to sin and blinded to the dangers of the fallen world. We would be trapped by any number of schemes and snares that Satan would use against us at his will.

But we have God’s Spirit in us! He bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children. Our spirit is the candle of the Lord. In other words, He enlightens us with wisdom in decisions and sensitivity to hidden dangers.

Years ago when I was in Bible school, I borrowed my roommate’s car to go to work. I stopped by the shopping mall and parked. Later on when I began to drive away, I heard an inner voice say, “Hit the brakes!” I obeyed, not knowing why. Suddenly, a car came racing from my blind side at 50 miles per hour right into my path!

Fifteen minutes later I was traveling down a two-lane highway. Once more the voice on the inside said, “Hit the brakes!” I decided to obey again. Two seconds after I hit my brakes a 22-car collision happened in front of me! Because I had slowed down, I spared myself and all the vehicles behind me a major accident. The Lord sees the hidden dangers ahead of us!

Scriptures: Romans 8:16, Proverbs 20:27

“Listen carefully to my words; let your ears take in what I say…” Luke 9:44

This bible quote encourages us to find a place of tranquility where we can take in God’s Word and take out God’s strength!  In the hectic day to day race that most people find themselves in, it is good to remember that we must take in God’s Word so that we may take out the kind of life He desires for us. This morning I am praying that each one of you would find time to enjoy God’s presence.

Remember we can find His presence in the simple things of life. One fall after a number of weeks of outreach in the radiation red zone just North of Chernobyl, I stepped out of the hotel into this grey Soviet era landscape. In between two 20 story buildings in the far distance was a little tree not more than 6 feet tall. On its branches were bright red leaves. I remember blurting out, “Look everyone! Isn’t that beautiful!?” The crowd around me was strangely confused looking for anything of beauty, but there in the distance was that bright autumn tree.

I encourage you today in the midst of your busy life to make a moment that refreshes your heart and your spirit. Maybe it is gazing at a special picture, taking a walk on the beach, or even throwing a few snowballs. Regardless, remember—take in His life and take out His presence!  Special moments come when we stop and glance at the beautiful landscapes of life!